19,423 research outputs found

    The Metaverse: Survey, Trends, Novel Pipeline Ecosystem & Future Directions

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    The Metaverse offers a second world beyond reality, where boundaries are non-existent, and possibilities are endless through engagement and immersive experiences using the virtual reality (VR) technology. Many disciplines can benefit from the advancement of the Metaverse when accurately developed, including the fields of technology, gaming, education, art, and culture. Nevertheless, developing the Metaverse environment to its full potential is an ambiguous task that needs proper guidance and directions. Existing surveys on the Metaverse focus only on a specific aspect and discipline of the Metaverse and lack a holistic view of the entire process. To this end, a more holistic, multi-disciplinary, in-depth, and academic and industry-oriented review is required to provide a thorough study of the Metaverse development pipeline. To address these issues, we present in this survey a novel multi-layered pipeline ecosystem composed of (1) the Metaverse computing, networking, communications and hardware infrastructure, (2) environment digitization, and (3) user interactions. For every layer, we discuss the components that detail the steps of its development. Also, for each of these components, we examine the impact of a set of enabling technologies and empowering domains (e.g., Artificial Intelligence, Security & Privacy, Blockchain, Business, Ethics, and Social) on its advancement. In addition, we explain the importance of these technologies to support decentralization, interoperability, user experiences, interactions, and monetization. Our presented study highlights the existing challenges for each component, followed by research directions and potential solutions. To the best of our knowledge, this survey is the most comprehensive and allows users, scholars, and entrepreneurs to get an in-depth understanding of the Metaverse ecosystem to find their opportunities and potentials for contribution

    Aligning Strategy, Governance, and People Management in Public Organizations: Lessons from the 14th Region Labor Court - RO/AC

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    How does the alignment between strategy, governance, and people management occur in a public organization? When devising a strategy, many organizations have sought to place it at the center of their management models in order to ensure that the adopted strategy reaches all levels of the organization and is widely shared. However, more often than not, most organizations attempt to generate synergy, but in a fragmented and uncoordinated manner and do not perceive alignment as a management process. This study evaluated the alignment of strategy, governance, and people management in a public organization, based on the people management strategy adopted by the organization and the perceptions of employees versus strategic managers. It is a theoretical-empirical research, adopting a pragmatic philosophical conception, using quantitative and qualitative research strategies, consisting of survey, documentary research, and a single case study, using quantitative and qualitative research methods for data collection, analysis, and interpretation. As a conclusion of the study, actions implemented by the institution were identified that demonstrate the existence of practices aligned with strategy, focused on governance and people management. However, according to the perception of employees, many practices were initiated but not completed or only partially applied in the organization, confirming the difficulty of organizations in sharing the strategy and defining coherent and aligned objectives among all those involved in implementing the strategy so that expected results can be achieved

    The Viability and Potential Consequences of IoT-Based Ransomware

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    With the increased threat of ransomware and the substantial growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) market, there is significant motivation for attackers to carry out IoT-based ransomware campaigns. In this thesis, the viability of such malware is tested. As part of this work, various techniques that could be used by ransomware developers to attack commercial IoT devices were explored. First, methods that attackers could use to communicate with the victim were examined, such that a ransom note was able to be reliably sent to a victim. Next, the viability of using "bricking" as a method of ransom was evaluated, such that devices could be remotely disabled unless the victim makes a payment to the attacker. Research was then performed to ascertain whether it was possible to remotely gain persistence on IoT devices, which would improve the efficacy of existing ransomware methods, and provide opportunities for more advanced ransomware to be created. Finally, after successfully identifying a number of persistence techniques, the viability of privacy-invasion based ransomware was analysed. For each assessed technique, proofs of concept were developed. A range of devices -- with various intended purposes, such as routers, cameras and phones -- were used to test the viability of these proofs of concept. To test communication hijacking, devices' "channels of communication" -- such as web services and embedded screens -- were identified, then hijacked to display custom ransom notes. During the analysis of bricking-based ransomware, a working proof of concept was created, which was then able to remotely brick five IoT devices. After analysing the storage design of an assortment of IoT devices, six different persistence techniques were identified, which were then successfully tested on four devices, such that malicious filesystem modifications would be retained after the device was rebooted. When researching privacy-invasion based ransomware, several methods were created to extract information from data sources that can be commonly found on IoT devices, such as nearby WiFi signals, images from cameras, or audio from microphones. These were successfully implemented in a test environment such that ransomable data could be extracted, processed, and stored for later use to blackmail the victim. Overall, IoT-based ransomware has not only been shown to be viable but also highly damaging to both IoT devices and their users. While the use of IoT-ransomware is still very uncommon "in the wild", the techniques demonstrated within this work highlight an urgent need to improve the security of IoT devices to avoid the risk of IoT-based ransomware causing havoc in our society. Finally, during the development of these proofs of concept, a number of potential countermeasures were identified, which can be used to limit the effectiveness of the attacking techniques discovered in this PhD research

    Economia colaborativa

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    A importância de se proceder à análise dos principais desafios jurídicos que a economia colaborativa coloca – pelas implicações que as mudanças de paradigma dos modelos de negócios e dos sujeitos envolvidos suscitam − é indiscutível, correspondendo à necessidade de se fomentar a segurança jurídica destas práticas, potenciadoras de crescimento económico e bem-estar social. O Centro de Investigação em Justiça e Governação (JusGov) constituiu uma equipa multidisciplinar que, além de juristas, integra investigadores de outras áreas, como a economia e a gestão, dos vários grupos do JusGov – embora com especial participação dos investigadores que integram o grupo E-TEC (Estado, Empresa e Tecnologia) – e de outras prestigiadas instituições nacionais e internacionais, para desenvolver um projeto neste domínio, com o objetivo de identificar os problemas jurídicos que a economia colaborativa suscita e avaliar se já existem soluções para aqueles, refletindo igualmente sobre a conveniência de serem introduzidas alterações ou se será mesmo necessário criar nova regulamentação. O resultado desta investigação é apresentado nesta obra, com o que se pretende fomentar a continuação do debate sobre este tema.Esta obra é financiada por fundos nacionais através da FCT — Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., no âmbito do Financiamento UID/05749/202

    Technical Dimensions of Programming Systems

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    Programming requires much more than just writing code in a programming language. It is usually done in the context of a stateful environment, by interacting with a system through a graphical user interface. Yet, this wide space of possibilities lacks a common structure for navigation. Work on programming systems fails to form a coherent body of research, making it hard to improve on past work and advance the state of the art. In computer science, much has been said and done to allow comparison of programming languages, yet no similar theory exists for programming systems; we believe that programming systems deserve a theory too. We present a framework of technical dimensions which capture the underlying characteristics of programming systems and provide a means for conceptualizing and comparing them. We identify technical dimensions by examining past influential programming systems and reviewing their design principles, technical capabilities, and styles of user interaction. Technical dimensions capture characteristics that may be studied, compared and advanced independently. This makes it possible to talk about programming systems in a way that can be shared and constructively debated rather than relying solely on personal impressions. Our framework is derived using a qualitative analysis of past programming systems. We outline two concrete ways of using our framework. First, we show how it can analyze a recently developed novel programming system. Then, we use it to identify an interesting unexplored point in the design space of programming systems. Much research effort focuses on building programming systems that are easier to use, accessible to non-experts, moldable and/or powerful, but such efforts are disconnected. They are informal, guided by the personal vision of their authors and thus are only evaluable and comparable on the basis of individual experience using them. By providing foundations for more systematic research, we can help programming systems researchers to stand, at last, on the shoulders of giants

    Strategies to Enhance Compliance to Health and Safety Protocols within the South African Mining Environment

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    Occupational health focuses on promotive and preventive and curative health. The occupational health practitioners have the responsibility to guide management and employees on the occupational legislative obligations aiming to safeguard legal compliance at the workplace. Additionally, it is the responsibility of the health professionals within the mining industry to provide primary, secondary and tertiary prevention strategies to improve the health and safety of workers. However, the prevalence of work-related diseases such as noise induced hearing loss, silicosis and the occurrence of accidents in the mining industry is an alarming factor. Systematic review method was adopted to identify and screen relevant citations. This book chapter aims to review and discuss existing literature on health and safety strategies to enhance safety compliance within the South African mining industry

    Strategy as Plan for Technology Integration to Reposition Lecturers for the New Normal in Higher Education

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    This chapter reports on the strategy as plan using ICT policy that could impact on repositioning the lecturers for the integration of technology for the new normal in education. Global, the COVID-19 pandemic distinctly exposed the unpreparedness of lecturers to integrate technology in teaching and learning when the shutdown of the higher institutions was announced. The participants consisted of 37 lecturers from four departments in the School of Education at a university of technology in South Africa. A qualitative case study method was used. An open-ended questionnaire, individual interviews and document analysis were used to collect data. Atlas.ti was used to analyse data. The findings revealed that the study University does not have the eLearning policy to enforce technology integration. Hence the unpreparedness of lecturers to integrate was discovered during Covid-19. It is recommended the study university develops an ICT policy, involving lecturers as stakeholders to promote ownership and conformability

    Production Systems Performance Optimization through Human/Machine Collaboration

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    The growth of enterprises is a constant source of research and development of new technologies. Indeed, to stand out from the competition and optimize their production, companies are moving toward the centralization of information and the implementation of machines. This dynamic requires a significant investment in terms of organization and research. Industry 4.0 is therefore at the heart of this reflection, as shown in the literature. It brings together many technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data. This chapter focuses on company performance optimization through a sustainable Industry 4.0 framework involving methodologies such as lean manufacturing and DMAIC, new technologies as robotics, in addition to social, societal, and environmental transformations. This chapter will present robotic displacement solutions adapted to the industrial environment for improving production systems performance. Solutions for human-machine interaction problems such as human-machine interface or flexibility 4.0 will be shown

    Metaphors of London fog, smoke and mist in Victorian and Edwardian Art and Literature

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    Julian Wolfreys has argued that after 1850 writers employed stock images of the city without allowing them to transform their texts. This thesis argues, on the contrary, that metaphorical uses of London fog were complex and subtle during the Victorian and Edwardian periods, at least until 1914. Fog represented, in particular, formlessness and the dissolution of boundaries. Examining the idea of fog in literature, verse, newspaper accounts and journal articles, as well as in the visual arts, as part of a common discourse about London and the state of its inhabitants, this thesis charts how the metaphorical appropriation of this idea changed over time. Four of Dickens's novels are used to track his use of fog as part of a discourse of the natural and unnatural in individual and society, identifying it with London in progressively more negative terms. Visual representations of fog by Constable, Turner, Whistler, Monet, Markino, O'Connor, Roberts and Wyllie and Coburn showed an increasing readiness to engage with this discourse. Social tensions in the city in the 1880s were articulated in art as well as in fiction. Authors like Hay and Barr showed the destruction of London by its fog because of its inhabitants' supposed degeneracy. As the social threat receded, apocalyptic scenarios gave way to a more optimistic view in the work of Owen and others. Henry James used fog as a metaphorical representation of the boundaries of gendered behaviour in public, and the problems faced by women who crossed them. The dissertation also examines fog and individual transgression, in novels and short stories by Lowndes, Stevenson, Conan Doyle and Joseph Conrad. After 1914, fog was no more than a crude signifier of Victorian London in literature, film and, later, television, deployed as a cliche instead of the subtle metaphorical idea discussed in this thesis
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